Jabula VBU
Jabula is located in the semi-arid district of Hwange. The land is rocky and the rains are often late and unreliable. Failed crops and livestock deaths have stalked the lives of the villagers in in this village and neighboring villages in Jambezi area for as long as they can remember. It is, however, a different story for farmers in Jabula Village.
The Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project establishes a village business unit in the area in 2024. The secretary of the 30 members village business unit Albert Sibanda says the garden is now in its fourth cycle of production. “This time, we have cultivated tomatoes, rape, cabbage and spinach. We also have maize which we have allowed to dry so that we can sell it to people who want grain. We have grown 22 000 plants and we expect an income of US$1 200.”
The Village Business Unit grow a variety of crops and are optimistic of the returns. Moyo adds, “We have 1 200 plants of the Candella variety of tomatoes. We expect to make US2 200. We have 1400 plants of the Kilimo cabbage variety. We also have cultivated an additional seed bed with 3 000 plants, which we will transplant next week. From the current crop we expect make US$600 and an additional US$800 from the crop that we will transplant.
In our first and second cycle, we made an income of US5 680. The first cycle gave us US$3 700 while the second cycle gave us US$ 1440
We have started sales for this third cycle and we have alraedy made US$170 from potatoes. We have sold leafy green vegetables and made an income of US$40. We had a tomato crop, just 2 lines and we made US$180.00”
Moyo recounts the days before the SACP intervention, “This was a small nutrition garden, but with the coming of the project we are now able to grow crops on a larger scale. This has sustained us and our families. When we receive our grant from SACP, we are planning to construct a shade with a cooling facility as well as establishing a chicken project.”
The farmers have already started planning for the future, beyond the Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project, “As a garden, we have a bank account, with US$3000. This will ensure sustainability of the project beyond SACP. All the income from the VBU sales is banked into this account. When we want to use the money we sit as a group and make decisions on inputs to be bought. SACP gave us a starter pack but the seeds for subsequent cycles were purchased by farmers. We are now self-reliant.”
We have this part where we have grown sweet potatoes. Our strategy was to harvest and sell the crop before the Zambians harvest theirs. We already have churches that have booked the produce for Easter holidays.
